


beaten but not broken

by Sholio



Category: Iron Fist (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 07:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: Missing scene for 2x06, for the Whumptober "Beaten" prompt: what was taking place elsewhere in the dojo/apartment while Misty interrogated Joy and Walker.





	beaten but not broken

Misty had been interrogating Joy and Walker in the bedroom for the better part of an hour. In the living room, Colleen wondered if it could possibly be tenser in there than it was out here.

... well, _tense_ wasn't quite the right word. It was just fundamentally _awkward,_ and she deeply resented being made to feel awkward in her own home, even though rationally she knew it wasn't really Ward's fault.

She would have given almost anything for something to _do,_ or failing that, for a little privacy to snuggle quietly with Danny ... except Ward was there, so she and Ward uncomfortably orbited each other, and both of them orbited Danny. 

She had gotten him into clean clothes before Misty took over the bedroom -- and it just figured that he'd been with Ward for hours and was still wearing the same blood-stiff jeans and shirt that he'd been in when she left. Now, cleaned up and changed, he was half-napping on the couch, rousing occasionally when she or Ward checked on him.

Ward hadn't said more than two words to her, which she tried not to resent, well aware that she wouldn't have been happy about it if he'd tried to engage her in conversation either. Instead, she picked things up, not that their place was normally a model of tidy housekeeping or even that she really _cared,_ except she needed to do something with her hands and the only thing worse than having Ward hanging idly around was if she was _also_ hanging around trying to think of things to say to him.

She heated water for tea and tried to shift herself into something vaguely resembling hostess mode. "Tea?" she asked.

"Got any coffee?"

"Uh ..." Danny kept a small jar of instant coffee around for guests. She tried to find it, but wasn't sure where he'd put it and wasn't really in a mood to look hard. "No. Sorry. Tea only."

"Yeah, sure, why not," Ward said, giving in more readily than she'd expected.

She half expected him to come into the kitchen and try to make small talk or tell her she was making the tea wrong or something, but just then Danny woke on the couch, stirring enough to say something that she couldn't hear with the water running. Ward answered and she heard Danny laugh quietly, and Colleen became aware of her teeth grinding together.

Okay, that really _wasn't_ fair, she thought, squeezing out a tea bag before dropping it into the food-scrap canister to go down to the community gardens for recycling. Danny was desperate to have a relationship with his family, and she really, truly wanted him to have that ...

\-- even if two people he considered family had just betrayed and tried to murder him.

Colleen became aware she was gripping the edge of the sink so hard her fingers hurt.

She was just ... _furious._ So, so angry on Danny's behalf. He'd worked so hard to build a life here, to get past the last round of betrayals ... on top of the previous round -- and _why_ did every single person that Danny decided to care about inevitably turn out to be a homicidal, traitorous asshole, anyway?

Present company _not_ excepted, she thought, and dumped extra sugar into Danny's tea for the energy before gathering up all three cups and taking them into the living room.

"Thanks," was all Ward said when she put the cup into his hands.

He made it hard to hate him, sometimes; he was being quiet and polite and reasonable, which just made her resent having him in her space (in her and Danny's shared space) even more because he _wasn't_ giving her anything to properly resent. It was only that she wanted to curl up beside Danny on the couch and wrap her arms around him, and hold him until she chased the chill from his heart.

Well ... she could do at least some of that. She sat beside Danny on the couch, and helped him sit up. He seemed to be rallying somewhat; he was definitely stronger than earlier. Still, he didn't object to Colleen putting an arm around him, her other hand resting gently under his cup, offering a little extra support to help him drink.

Ward looked awkward and got up and wandered off, taking his tea with him. Colleen heard him clanking around in the kitchen.

"Sugar's in the top left cabinet," she called after him, and then rested her chin on Danny's shoulder and kissed his ear. Ward had cleaned up most of the blood on his face, at least. "Feeling better?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged and gave a little sigh and leaned his head against hers.

She got most of the tea into him and then lifted the soft henley she'd changed him into to make sure his bandages weren't seeping blood, which they didn't appear to be. He was tired and sad and pliant, though he smiled at her a little as she got him to lie down and covered him with a blanket.

"I'm okay, Colleen," he murmured, taking her hand and holding it against his cheek.

"I know," she murmured back, thinking _no you're not, and it's their fault, Joy and Davos, and everyone else who betrayed you going all the way back to Harold Meachum._

But ... he was also Danny, and he had more ability to bounce back from things than anyone she'd ever met. He was already much better than a few hours ago. He'd be on his feet again soon, she thought, and then they'd deal with what needed doing ... _together._

"What d'you think they're talking about in there?" Danny murmured.

Colleen could think of a few things, but nothing she wanted to say to him. "Misty will get the story out of her. It's what she does. And then we'll find Davos."

Finding Davos was going to be the easier part, she suspected. But Danny nodded, and his eyes slipped shut again, his hand going limp on hers.

She tucked him under the blanket, gathered up the cups and took them into the kitchen. Ward was still there by the sink, holding his untouched cup of tea and gazing off into nothing with a thousand-yard stare. He glanced at her and shuffled over a little so she could put the cups in the sink.

Some part of her still found it hard to believe that Ward wasn't going to betray them again, just like all the times he'd betrayed them before. She didn't know how Danny could believe in Ward as much as he clearly did. But, if she forced herself to be honest, that was her issue as much as Danny's. Both of them knew far too much about betrayal, and Danny, she thought, was too quick to forgive, but maybe she could learn a little from him too.

And Ward just ... _grated_ on her, his casual privilege and his asshole sarcasm and the way that he seemed to make a special effort to ruffle her feathers every time he got the chance, as if he couldn't stand the idea of not being a complete jerk for five minutes. But there was a difference between "asshole" and "traitor."

And tonight they'd learned -- Ward had learned -- that his sister had conspired with Davos to steal a part of Danny's very soul, and had almost gotten Danny killed. And he was out here with them, not in here with Joy; he had, in a very real way, taken a side tonight. She'd seen his face when he had learned about Joy. He hadn't known.

She'd taken the photos to him, knowing, or at least hoping, that he would help them. She'd called him when Danny was hurt. And she had left Danny -- a hurt, vulnerable Danny -- alone with him. So maybe it was time to finally admit to herself that she might not like him, but she trusted him with Danny, and that was a level of trust that most people didn't get. She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who did.

"You're staring at me," Ward said.

"Uh, sorry." She was silent for a minute, listening to the low rise and fall of female voices in the bedroom. It wasn't just tonight that he'd taken a side. He was here with them, he'd _been_ with them -- on their side, at least -- since that night on the roof at Rand a year ago, and that meant something, it _did._ The silence grew steadily more awkward, until finally she said, "Ward ... thank you for staying with Danny tonight."

He shrugged and looked away. "What was I gonna do, go do my taxes instead?"

_Smile, and don't kill him,_ Colleen told herself firmly. "I'm going to make another cup of tea. You want a warm-up?" she asked, in blatant defiance of the fact that he clearly hadn't even touched the one he had.

"Yeah, sure," he said, and even smiled a little. And Colleen made tea, not even really sure if she was trying to do something nice for him or feed him something he clearly hated while he couldn't do anything about it. Maybe it was a little of both.


End file.
